A blast from the past, the GPz was perhaps the ultimate expression of sport bike back when Olivia Newton‑John was getting physical, Rocky had the eye of the tiger, and Tommy Tutone was trying to remember Jenny’s number. This was an era before liquid cooling, before fuel injection, and long before computers had anything to do with motorcycles, preferring to spend their time printing out “hello world” messages. Pre-FaceBook, pre-Twitter, and before internet-streamed content because it was pre-internet, the GPz 550 exudes old tech, old-school cool.
That is not to say that the middleweight GPz did not contain some tech. For the day, it was an evolution of the KZs that came before: 58-ish HP from the air-cooled, 2-valve inline four breathing through Constant Velocity (CV) carbs. But the real trickery was in the suspension. Air-assisted front forks allowed for some degree of tuning, but out back was the first appearance of Kawasaki’s Uni-Trak – a rising-rate, single shock linkage that finally but the twin-shock concept to bed. Fitted with triple disks (of modest proportions by today’s standards) and a bikini fairing, the GPz was the embodiment of the modern era sportbike.
From the seller:
1982 Kawasaki GPZ 550. 20,172 miles on the odometer. Not a dent in the tank and the paint is excellent. Carbs will need to be cleaned and I have 4 carb kits for the bike (K&L). New battery, rebuilt front calipers and rear caliper. Factory manual comes with the bike. This is truly a beautiful motorcycle. Come with 2 new tires that will come with the bike….they will need to be put on the bike
The GPz line was mass produced and there were no special, limited edition models within a size range. Therefore one GPz550 of a given year is very much like any other GPz550 of the same year – no S model, no R spec, and no homologation examples. As a massively produced motorcycle, the GPz550 was not rare – nor where they expensive, nor were they hard to come by (unless you were teenage dreamer living at home spending hours pouring through Cycle magazine… but I digress). Today, a clean and original GPz is becoming a rare find. These were picked up, traded hands, tracked, commuted, parked wherever, and most languish in that nether world of potentially great, but not in great enough shape to care about. That is what makes today’s find special.
This one has been on the block for a while, and the Buy It Now price is a pretty rational $4,500 OBO. Yes, that is more than what it cost when new. But much less than it would cost to bring a rat bike back to former glory. And the seller is open to offers. If you have a collection in your stable and you don’t have a GPz, you should definitely find some room somewhere to sneak one in. For the early eighties, the GPz was the motorcycling pin up equivalent of Bo Derek or the Lamborghini Countach. Check out all of the details here, and then jump to the comments and share your GPz experiences. Good Luck!!
MI
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